


Paws and claws and kisses

by magpie_fngrl



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Just Add Kittens, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-14
Updated: 2014-10-17
Packaged: 2018-02-21 04:10:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2454242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magpie_fngrl/pseuds/magpie_fngrl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pynch with kittens</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was Glendower’s fault that Adam stuck his tongue in Ronan’s mouth.

The whole thing started one late evening about a week ago. Adam had returned from the garage less than an hour before, soaked to the bone. Heavy rain still whipped the windows, making his apartment feel even colder and lonelier. A solitary lamp burned next to the bed where he had spread his homework, when the knock at the door interrupted him. At this time of night, it could only have been Ronan.

“Look what I found outside the church,” Ronan said, before striding into the room.

“Is this another bird?” he asked looking at Ronan’s cupped hands and the small, dark and wet bundle inside them.

“Nope,” Ronan replied. He sat on the edge of the bed. “Can’t take them home, Chainsaw might be jealous. Or she might even attack them,” he continued.

“Them?” Adam came nearer and Ronan opened his palms over the thin blanket.

Two tiny kittens spilled on the bed. One was solid black and the other was a faded grey colour, almost lilac. They looked around them curiously and started smelling his blanket and his books, tails in the air. Adam was stunned.

“You don’t mean you’ll leave them _here_?”

“Where else? Hey, do you have any milk? They look like they’re starving.”

Adam walked to the fridge and took out a carton, slamming the fridge door. He poured some into a small bowl and put it on the floor next to the bed.

“Here, here,” Ronan cooed at the kittens. He scooped them gently and placed them on the floor. His face had softened to the point that it was almost unrecognizable. Adam had never thought it possible that Ronan’s face could look that innocent. Ronan looked up at that moment and Adam turned his face away. He watched the kittens lap up the milk.

 “You can’t leave them here tonight, Lynch. I’m not even sure what the pet policy is here at the church.”

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll sort it out if it becomes an issue,” he said.

“Are you actually expecting me to look after them?” Adam was incredulous when he saw Ronan staring back and realized that, yes, he was meant to look after them. As if he didn’t have enough going on! You don’t take pets to people with three jobs and a demanding school timetable! He sighed in exasperation and threw up his arms.

“Typical!”

 “Look, I’ll help you. But there’s no way I’m putting them back on the street to die. I can’t take them to Monmouth, what with Chainsaw and the Dog.” When he saw Adam was still frowning, he huffed. “We can look for someone to adopt them but they’ll need to stay here for some days until then, _alright_?”

“I’m gone most of the day. They’ll be on their own.”

“They can look after themselves. They don’t look newborn, they should be fine. I said I’ll fucking help, Parrish.”

The kittens were licking themselves clean. There was still an inch of milk in the bowl, so Adam put it in a corner, out of the way, so he wouldn’t kick it by accident.

“You have until Sunday,” he told Ronan and Ronan grinned.

* * *

 

Ronan left an hour later, after the kittens relieved themselves on Adam’s cheap rug. Adam had a fit and Ronan replied with his usual scorn that it wasn’t a big deal since the carpet was shit anyway, so Adam had another fit and they ended up having a fight.  Now he lay in bed, trying to get some sleep before school. His homework was done in a hurry, but he couldn’t worry about it too much.

He was slipping into sleep, when he felt something like leaves rustling on his face. Cabeswater needed his attention? He brushed his hand across his face only to realize that the black kitten had been pawing it. He sighed. Did cats sleep at night? The grey one was now climbing on the box he had for nightstand and managed to knock his alarm clock off it.

 _I’m going to kill Lynch_ , he thought.

He picked them up both and put them on the other side of the bed, where they started licking each other. It was cute and he couldn’t help but smile a little. His eyes were closing again and he felt himself drifting to sleep, when he heard angry mewling. The kittens had started fighting, hissing and snarling, biting and swiping at each other. A few minutes later, the black one chased the grey one on the floor and after a game of ‘run and run and then run some more’, they seemed to revel in climbing on his things or sharpening their nails on his door. _Oh for fuck’s sake_ , he thought again and put a pillow on his head trying to ignore them. His exhaustion won in the end and he fell asleep.

The morning light tugged on his eyelids waking him up. There was something warm on his chest. He slowly opened his eyes and peeked. Both kittens were sleeping on top of him curled in each other. He didn’t want to disturb them but he couldn’t help it. He held them as carefully as he could and placed them next to him. One started purring as soon as he held them. The feeling was a shock. He’d always assumed purring was just a sound, but now he realized it was more than that, it was vibration. He was startled to realize how much it delighted him. If he shut his eyes, he could feel the vibration reaching deep inside him, resounding in his chest.

At Latin, he was first in class. A few minutes later Ronan threw himself on the seat next to him.

“How are they?” he asked.

“Still alive”, Adam murmured. His eyes ran through the verbs they had for today trying to memorize them fast.

“I’ve been thinking about names,” Ronan said.

Adam rolled his eyes.

“You should be thinking about finding them a home,” he replied.

“So, how about Magnus and Maximus?” Ronan continued as if he hadn’t heard him.

“The ‘great one’ and the ‘greatest one’? Very imaginative.”

“Do you think that’s placing too many expectations on them? Hm. How about Ronan and Adam?”

“Very funny. You don’t even know if they’re male or female anyway.”

“I can figure it out. I was up till late last night looking up information on the internet”.

“I was up till late last night because they wouldn’t settle down.”

“Pathetic, Parrish, you can’t even handle two kittens.”

Adam ignored him. He didn’t want to get more pissed off than he already was.

All he said before the teacher walked in was “I’m not letting you pick the names. You’ll end up choosing a name from a tool shed again.” Ronan smirked.

* * *

 

After school, Ronan drove them to the pet store. He filled the cart with a huge bag of dry food for kittens, cat litter, a litter box, a dozen toys, feeding and water trays and was about to purchase a scratching pole, a structure almost as tall as himself, that Adam knew wouldn’t even fit upright in his room.

When they went back, the kittens were asleep.

“ _Now_ you’re quiet,” Adam murmured.

Their eyes opened instantly as Ronan sat next to them. Immediately, they approached him and bumped their heads on him. He chuckled low and gentle and petted them.

He was quite a picture, Adam thought, watching Ronan being climbed on by kittens, the afternoon’s sun enveloping him from behind. It – _It_ was quite a picture, he corrected himself. God, what was on his mind? He shook his head trying to get rid of the image and sat next to Ronan, who grabbed both cats.

“Let’s see if they have balls,” he said. He made them lie on the blanket and lifted their legs and peered between them with a thoughtful, careful look.

“If only you were as dedicated to school as you are to baby animals,” Adam commented.

Ronan ignored him. “Okay, so the black one is a boy and the grey one is a girl. So, what it’ll be, godfather? Thought of any names that aren’t found in a tool shed?”

 “How about,” Adam replied - who had indeed given it some thought - “we name the grey one, the girl, Silva.”

 _Woods, forest_ in Latin. Ronan nodded satisfied. “So the black one can be Glendower?” he suggested.

That was surprisingly what Adam had also in mind.

“We’ll present him to Gansey if we never manage to find the actual king.”

“He’ll be Plan B,” Ronan smiled.

The black kitten had settled on Adam’s lap. He smiled and stroked the soft fur with a finger. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed Ronan looking at him. He stopped stroking the cat.

“I’ve got homework that I need to do now before work. You said you’d help me with these creatures. Well, help.”

He tackled the homework while Ronan was taking the shopping out of the bags. He prepared the litter box and put it in the bathroom. Then he got the two plastic trays and filled them with food and water. He sat back on the bed then, watching the kittens eat and drink and he intercepted them every time they went in Adam’s direction.

Adam kept looking furtively behind him. He wanted to ignore Ronan and the cats, but it was hard to keep himself from glancing at them. He had seen how Ronan looked after his bird and knew he could be tender with non-humans. But birds are different. Cats are designed to be stroked and petted and Ronan clearly indulged in it. They climbed on his shoulders and purred in his lap and he smiled and kept smiling for the whole duration. Adam found it very distracting.

“I’ve got to go now and I’ll be back very late,” he said when it was time for work. He closed his books. “Are they going to be alright if I leave them alone all this time?”

“I could come and check up on them later, if you like,” Ronan said. He looked at his hands. “You could give me a key, so I can let myself in, make sure they’re behaving.”

A key to his flat? He must have looked shocked or something because Ronan immediately scowled.

“Just for a few days.” He seemed embarrassed and that made him hostile.

“Okay, alright,” Adam replied. He didn’t have time to think about it now, he was running late. His homework had been done haphazardly at best. He took the spare key from a drawer and handed it to Ronan. It felt very trusting to hand over access to his flat and Adam wasn’t the most trusting person. Anyway, it was too late to back down now. The key was in Ronan’s hands.

“Don’t forget the posters. We need to find them homes,” he told him before they parted ways. He couldn’t deal with more distracting days like these, his studying already suffered.


	2. Chapter 2

Adam came back from work at 2 am, exhausted. Sometimes he felt that the only thing that kept him going was that the fact that it was his last year in school. The last year that he had to work himself to the bone for his education. His eyes were closing even as he trudged up the stairs. Letting himself in, he found Ronan sprawled on his bed, all the toys unwrapped and scattered on the floor. The black kitten was chasing a fake mouse and the grey one was tugging on a piece of string. A closer look revealed that it was one of the laces from his sports shoes. It was now in pieces.

Ronan was quick to prevent an explosion. “I’ll replace it, okay?”

He was too tired to argue.

“Scoot over,” he said. He flopped still fully clothed on the bed next to Ronan.

“Do you mind if I stay over tonight?” Ronan asked. “I can keep them occupied so they won’t disturb you,” he said.

Adam didn’t think cannons would be able to disturb his sleep tonight, but he mumbled a _thanks_ and instantly fell asleep.

During the night he was woken up. He felt something warm on his side. It was the grey kitten – _Silva,_ he reminded himself – that had nestled in his side. She was sleeping, her tiny body rising and falling with each breath. He carefully stretched a finger and stroked her on the spine. The cat purred lightly. What a wonder purring was, he thought. He’d grown up with dogs around, but there was something intriguing about cats, he now realized. It was hard to understand them, even harder to _know_ them. They were unknowable, like him. He felt an affinity towards them that he hadn’t expected.

Ronan hadn’t slept on the floor like he used to. He’d fallen asleep on the other side of the bed, on top of the covers and the black cat was sleeping on his head. There was something all over the bed that caught his eye. Half-rising, trying not to disturb Silva, Adam saw a bunch of silky ribbons spreading in a circle all around Ronan. He must have been dreaming about the cats and toys. Adam carefully got out of bed and covered Ronan with his jacket. Creeping under the covers, he closed his eyes and let sleep take him; the last image before he fell into darkness was Ronan’s moonlit face in a sea of red ribbons.

 

* * *

 

The next few days passed with school and work and kittens. On Saturday morning, Adam woke up next to Ronan again. It had become a thing, this sharing of the bed, always the kitten excuse, always a good five inches of space between them, but still: it stirred something in him that he tried not to think about much, because if he did, he wouldn’t think about anything else.

Adam got up and Silva followed him around. He sat on the edge of the bed with a bowl of cereal and she brushed her tail on his legs. He slipped into the shower and she meowed outside the closed door demanding to be let in. He never had anyone pay so much attention to him and it was cute and pleasing. He found himself bonding with this soft grey ball of fur. She now demanded to be on Adam’s lap when she licked herself clean after eating and Adam knew that he was spoiling her by allowing it, but couldn’t help it.

After Silva started attacking one of the red ribbons from Ronan’s dreams that hanged from doorknobs and furniture, Adam tidied up the kitchen. He took out the rubbish and, returning to his room, he saw Ronan finally stir.

“Morning,” he said.

“Morning, sunshine,” Ronan answered, his voice croaky from sleep.

He stretched his long arms and yawned and blinked at Silva who ran to say hello.

“Where’s Glendower?”

“Isn’t he there with you? Thought I saw him on the bed a minute ago,” said Adam.

Ronan shook his head for an answer. They both bent over the bed and searched the covers. Ronan went to check the bathroom and Adam looked behind the sparse furniture in case the kitten had hid in a corner.

“Where can he be?” Adam wondered. “There’s no way to leave the flat. Unless…”

“Unless what, Parrish?”

Adam closed his eyes, fear rising in him. “I took out the rubbish. I left the door open for just a second because I’d forgotten to pick up the recycling and had to dash back in. I thought he was in bed, Silva was up and she was playing, but I didn’t see him at all…”

Ronan jumped up.

“He can’t have gone far,” he said.

They ran down the stairs, calling for the cat.

“Can’t believe we’re looking for Glendower – again,” Ronan growled and, despite his anxiety, Adam stifled a laugh. It seemed all they did these last couple of years was look for Glendower.

The stairs were empty but the door that connected to the main church was ajar. They went inside. Luckily, no one was there. Adam wasn’t sure how he’d explain the kitten thing. He didn’t share Ronan’s optimism that the church would be okay with it.

“Hey, Glennie, hey kitty,” Ronan called ahead of him.

“Let’s split.” Adam pointed on the right for himself. Ronan nodded and turned left.

After twenty minutes, they met again. They'd looked everywhere but there was no sign of the black kitten.

They sat on the pews, Adam grim, Ronan grimmer. They had the kittens for four days, but it was already hard for Adam to imagine not seeing one of them again. He glanced at Ronan, who seemed equally upset.

“We’ll find him,” he said, taking Ronan’s hand in his, trying to reassure him. “I’m sorry, I was careless leaving the door ajar, but - ” His voice trailed off as he saw Ronan’s wide, surprised, – _delighted?_ – eyes and realized what he’d done. He looked down at their lnked hands and swallowed hard, then he looked up at Ronan again. He never thought he’d see Lynch blushing so hard.

Glendower saved him. A meow from the church organ brought them both to their feet running.

“There you are, you little shit,” Ronan cooed when the kitty ran to them, rubbing his tail on their legs. Ronan sat down and picked him up on his lap. The kitten stood on him, still meowing. Adam sat next to him. They both avoided each other’s eyes, the atmosphere tense and awkward. Ronan was pretending to be completely focused on the cat.

“Ronan.” What was there to say, Adam wondered, but he felt he had to say _something_.

Ronan reluctantly looked at him, the vulnerability in his eyes almost shocking.

Well, perhaps there was nothing to say, Adam decided. Perhaps there was something he could do.

He touched Ronan’s chin and slowly pulled him closer. Ronan tensed, but didn’t pull away. Adam brought his mouth on Ronan’s and gently let their lips touch. There were about a million butterflies in his stomach now and Ronan was even tenser than before, but after a second they both simultaneously crashed their lips on each other. Ronan’s mouth parted his lips and Adam let his tongue inside his mouth. On the back of his mind, thoughts raced: _this is a church, what if someone sees_ – but they were overpowered by the sensations: the sensation of Ronan’s hard mouth and tender tongue; the feel of Ronan’s palm on his face; the thrill of sliding his hand under Ronan’s untucked shirt; and the purring of Glendower between them, as if this was exactly what he'd intended.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Adam woke up alone. He didn’t have work the night before, so Ronan had no excuse to stay over. There was still some awkwardness between them after the kiss; all the things left unsaid. For a whole day they hadn’t talked about the elephant in the room, that stolen kiss, pretending like it didn’t happen.

It was lonely not seeing the other boy’s face on the pillow next to him, but the cats made up for it. Silva was burrowed under his blankets asleep, while Glendower was attacking his foot that crept under the edge of the blanket. His nails were sharp but not very painful and Adam nudged his foot here and there, chuckling at Glendower’s attempts to intercept it. He was getting used to these beasts. They were a hassle, true, but it was nice to come home and find two living beings excited about his return.

 _It was also nice to have Ronan waiting for him every evening_ , a voice said in his head.

When he heard a knock on the door later that afternoon, he wasn’t surprised to see Ronan. He was surprised, though, to see that Ronan had made posters to find homes for their kittens.

“You said Sunday,” Ronan said, showing him the posters.

They were hideous. The pictures Ronan chose showed the kittens at their worst, Glendower especially looking like a cat from hell. Silva was possibly the cutest feline ever with her lilac-grey fur and clear blue eyes, but Ronan had snapped her from the back, mid-jump, claws out. His untidy, handwritten message was brief to the point of rudeness.

“These posters are goddamn awful,” Adam said. “Are you trying to find them homes or get them burned in a pyre?”

Ronan didn’t reply, just stared at him. He didn’t really have to say anything. The posters were blatantly obvious: he’d done the worst possible job because he didn’t want to let the cats go.

Adam sighed.

“I’m not ready to give them up either,” he said.

Ronan visibly relaxed. He tossed the posters on the floor.

“You could have said something, Parrish, before I busted my ass doing these.”

“Still,” Adam said carefully, “I don’t know for how long. I want them, but it’s a big commitment.”

“I still don’t see what the fuck’s the problem.”

“I’m going to college next year and I won’t be able to take them along, probably. What happens then?”

“We’ll figure it out when we get to that point,” Ronan insisted.

“I’ll be totally attached to them by then and it’ll be very painful to say goodbye.”

“They might come with you, you don’t know that.”

Adam looked straight in his eyes. “It’ll be _heartbreaking_ if I have to leave them behind.”

Ronan stared straight back. “That’s just an excuse not to commit.”

“I'm _already_ commited - I just - I guess I got into thinking about the future and ... ”

“Are we still talking about the cats?” Ronan asked, but Adam didn’t reply. They just kept looking at each other.

Ronan lowered his voice. “How about we take it one day at a time?”

“See how it goes,” Adam agreed.

“And I can come and help out whenever you want. Feed them and shit.”

“You do have a key.” Adam was now smiling.

“And I can stay over maybe.”

“Maybe.” Adam stretched his hand and held Ronan’s and grinned at his blushing face.

“And maybe I can kiss you sometimes,” Adam said casually.

Ronan’s smile was sharp and ecstatic. “Like, right fucking now?”

Adam pulled him close. “Like, right fucking now.”


End file.
